The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-01-13

worse than when you Games AS mis- Char
lot halts moment his servants Chamber up
in it and coax him to do as Elisha said.
They say: ats easy. If the prophet had
told you to walk for mile on sharp spikes
in order to get rid of this awful disease
you would have done it. 1t is easy. Come,
my lord, just get down and wash in the
Jordon. You take a bath every day, any
how, and in this climate it is so hot that it
will do you good. Do it on our account and
for the sake of the army you command, and
for the sake of the Nation that admires you.
Come, my lord, just try this Jordanic
bath" swell, he says, s'to please you ]
will do as you say"
The retinue drives to the bank of the Jor
dan. The horses paw and neigh to get into the
stream themselves and cool their hot TANKS.
General Naaman, assisted by his attend
ants, gets down out of the chariot and pain
fully comes to the brink of the river, and
steps in until the water comes to the ankle,
and goes on deeper until the water comes
to the girdle, and now standing so far down
in the stream just little inclination of the
head will thoroughly immerse him. He
bows once into the food, and comes up and
shakes the water out of his nostrils and
eyes, and his attendants look at him and
say: "Why, General, how much better you
look. And he bows a second time into the
flood and comes up, and the wild stare
is gone out of his eyes. He bows the
third time into the flood and comes
up, and the shriveled flesh has got
smooth again. He bows the fourth time
into the flood and comes up, and the hair
that had fallen out Is restored in thick
locks again all over the brow He bows
tho fifth Tina into tho Hno6 and I'M,
and the hoarseness has gone out of his
throat. He Bows the sixth time and comes
up, and all the soreness ard anguish have
gone out of the limbs. Why" he says,
81 am almost well, but will make COM
plete cure" and he bows the seventh time
into the flood and comes up, and not so
much as tester, or scale, or eruption as
big as the head of pin is to be seen on
him. He steps out on the bank and says:
" Is it possible?' And the attendants look
and say: "Is it possible?" And as, with
the health of an athlete, he bounds back
into the chariot and drives on, there goes
up from all his attendants wild g Huzzai
huzza" Of course, they go back to pay
and thank the man of God for his counsel,
so fraught with wisdom. When they left
the prophets house they went off mad
they have come back glad.
People always think better of minister
after they have been converted than they
do before conversion. Now we are to them
an intOlerable nuisance because we tell
them to do things that go against the grain;
but some of US have great many letters
from those who tell US that once they were
angry at what we preached, but afterward
gladly received the Gospel at our hands.
They once called US fanatics or terrorists
or enemies; now they call us friends. Yon-
der is mani speak literal fact-who
said that he would never come into the
church again. He said that two years ago.
He said: my family shall never come here
again If such doctrines as those are
preached" But he came again. and his
family came again. He is Christian, his
wife a Christian, all his children Chris
tians, the whole household Christian, and I
shall dwell with them in the house of the
Lord forever. Our undying coadjutors are
those who once heard the Gospel and
''went away in a rage"
Now, my hearers. you notice that this
General Naaman did two things IN order to
get well. The first was, he got out of his
chariot. He might have staid there with
his swollen feet on the stuffed ottoman,
seated on that embroidered cushion until
his last gasp, he would never have got any
relief. He had to get down out of his chariot.
And you have got to get down out of the
chariot of your pride if you ever become a
Christian. You can not drive up to the
cross with a coach and four and be saved
among all the spangles. You seem to think
that the Lord is going to be complimented
by your coming. Oh, no; you poor, misera-
Bile, scaly, leprous sinner, get down out of
that !! We all come in the same naughty way.
We expect to ride into the Kingdom
of God. Never until we get down
on our knees will we find mercy The
Lord has endorsed rs, uncharioted US. Get
down out of your pride. Get down out of
your self-righteousness and your hyper
criticism. We have all got to do that That
is the journey we have got to make on our
knees. 1t is our Internal pride that keeps
us from getting rid of the leprousy of sin.
Dear Lord, what have we to be proud ofs
Proud of our scalesi Proud of our un-
cleannessa Proud of this killing infec-
toni Bring us down at Thy feet, weeping,
praying, penitent, believing suppliants!
For sinners, Lord, Thou earnest to bleed
And I'm sinner, vile, indeed;
Lord, believe, Thy grace is free,
Oh, magnify that grace in mel
But he had not only to get down out OF
his chariot; he had to wash. "Oh," you
say, II am very careful Of my additions
Every day plunge into bright and beau
tiful bath" All, my hearers, there is a
food brighter than any other. 1t is the
flood that breaks from the granite of eter-
| nal hills. 1t is the food of pardon, and
peace, and life, and Heaven. That food
started in the tears of Christ and the sweat
of Gethsemane, and rolled on, an accumu-
lating food, until all earth and Heaven
could battle in it. Zachariah called it ''the
fountain open for sin and uncleanness."
William Cowper called it 'sthe fountain
filled with blood" Your fathers and moth
| ers washed all their sins and sorrows away
| in that fountain. Oh, my hearers, do you
| not to-day feel like wading into it, Wade
down now into this glorious flood, deeper,
deeper, deeper. Plunge once, twice, thrice
| four times, five times, six times, seven
| times. 1t will take as much as that to cure
your soul Oh, wash, wash, wash, and be
cleanl
Isuppose that was a great time at Da
| mascus when General Naaman got back.
The characters did not have to drive slow
ly any longer lest they jolt the invalid
| but as the horses dashed through the
streets of Damascus / think the people
rushed out to hail back their chieftain
Naaman's wife hardly recognized her hus